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Russian diamond mining giant Alrosa reported significant improvements in revenue and profitability in Q1 2019 as compared to the previous quarter, with the caveat being that their 2019 financial results are lagging far behind the same period a year earlier (Q1 2018).

Russian diamond miner Alrosa was unable last month to follow up on their modestly encouraging rough-diamond sales from March, as the $316 million earned in April represents a 14% decline from March 2019 and a 20% decline from April 2018. Polished-diamond sales during the month did not fare any better, as Alrosa earned $2.9 million, a 64% decline from March ($8 million) and a 68% decline from April 2018 ($9.1 million).

Russian diamond miner Alrosa unearthed a gem-quality stone weighing 118.91 carats on April 16th, the eve of the launch of Zarya - a new deposit of ALROSA at Aykhal Mining and Processing Plant. It is the largest gem-quality diamonds found at the ‘International’ pipe over the past two years. The mined crystal is one of the largest gem-quality diamonds extracted from the ground at the mine ‘International’ in recent years; a similar large gem-quality diamond (109.61 carats) was mined here in summer of 2017.

Alrosa's rough diamond production in Q1 2019 declined significantly from the same period in 2018, as did its sales, impacted by a sharp decline in prices and a larger share of small-size diamonds in the sales mix and lower prices mostly for medium-size diamonds.

Russian diamond mining giant Alrosa saw its March rough diamond sales gain 8% over its February results, as the market is gradually stabilizing, although it is still lagging far behind its rough sales a year ago. Alrosa sold $369.2 million in rough goods compared with $340.6 million last month and $278.2 million in January, saying demand for smaller-sized stones picked up during the quarter.

Following test drilling carried out earlier this month at the Verkhne-Munskoye diamond deposit located in the west of Yakutia, Russian diamond miner Alrosa has announced that it has the potential to "become one of the richest in large diamonds among Alrosa’s deposits."

Russia's Alrosa has been exploring its options for the currently suspended Mir underground mine development, and has announced that it has worked out a decision-making concept regarding whether to restore Mir as an operating mine or move toward full closure of the mine. Should the miner decide the plan to reopen the Mir mine is economically viable and can be done safely, the earliest it might reopen would be 2030, and it could take even longer.

The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) has introduced new national codes for rough (unworked) and cut (worked) synthetic diamonds and other synthetic gemstones based on the Harmonized System (HS) Code, the international nomenclature to classify traded products.

Russia's Alrosa, the world’s largest diamond miner, could not escape the current trend on the rough diamond market at the start of 2019, as its rough diamond sales plunged by 44% to $278 million from $499 million in January 2018. This is in sharp contrast to December sales, however, when rough sales increased by 46% over the previous year. Polished-diamond sales in January were $3.4 million, bringing total sales for the month to $281.5 million.

Alrosa has recovered a unique rough diamond weighing almost 200 carats, which was mined at the Udachnaya kimberlite pipe in mid-January 2019. It is one of the largest diamonds recoverd by the Russian miner in recent years.

Russian diamond mining giant Alrosa has announced its production results for 2018 and Q4 2018, reporting that annual production declined by 7% to 36.7 million carats, while an 8% decline in carats sold was offset by a higher average price per carat, leading revenues to rise 6% to $4.5 billion. The miner attributed the fall in output to the shutdown of the Mir underground mine and the completion of open-pit mining at the Udachnaya pipe.

Russia's Alrosa has appointed Rebecca Foerster as President ALROSA USA Inc., and will mainly be responsible for the development of polished diamonds sales and customer service. ALROSA’s office in New York was opened in 2006, but it has not been operating since 2016 for organizational reasons. The full-scale operation was resumed in 2018, when two rough diamond auctions were held there. This year, ALROSA plans to hold four rough diamond auctions in New York and significantly increase its office activity in selling its own polished diamonds.

Alrosa finished the year with a 6% increase in rough and polished diamond sales after a strong December in which the Russian miner's rough sales rose 44% year-over-year to $324 million from $228 million, which was also good for a 23% rise over November. The company sold $5 million in polished diamonds in December.

Russian diamond mining giant Alrosa has updated its policy on sustainable development and corporate social responsibility in accordance with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as best international practices and industry trends, the company writes in a press release.

Russia's Alrosa, the world leader in diamond production, sold $267 million of rough goods in November 2018, which represents a 14% increase compared to its October revenue derived from a much higher volume of sales, but is not ready to claim demand for small rough has rebounded. Sales of smaller and less expensive rough goods have tumbled throughout the industry in recent months, as a lack of financing and a devalued currency have slowed purchases of goods destined for manufacturing in India.

Russian diamond miner AGD Diamonds held its final rough diamond auction of the year on the e-trading platform of Grib Diamonds, its selling arm in Antwerp, earning over $25 million. The auction was attended by the company’s regular customers from India, Israel and Belgium, reports Rough & Polished. At the same time, AGD Diamonds was also able to attract new buyers from China due to perfect preparation of goods to be auctioned and smart organization of viewings.

Russian diamond miner AGD Diamonds, which in September acquired an 100% stake in Antwerp-based Grib Diamonds N. V., the international sales arm for rough goods produced at the Grib Diamond Field, held a public auction last week for the sale of special-size diamonds (10.8+), earning a total of $14.1 million. The lots included large-size top-grade diamonds, including a unique bright yellow colored stone weighing 57.03 carats, which had been extracted by the Grib Mining and Processing Unit on June 18, 2018.

Russian diamond giant Alrosa held two auctions of special rough stones (10.8 carats and up) during the month of November, first in Vladivostok and then in Dubai, earning an average of approximately $4,900 from the sale of 4,030 carats, yielding a total of $19.8 million. In Vladivostok, the miner sold 119 gem-quality rough diamonds with a total weight of 1,890 carats for $10.3 million, representing an average price per carat of $5,540. This was the fourth and final auction in Vladivostok, their Far Eastern platform, for 2018. They started holding auctions there in late 2016.

Russian diamond mining giant ALROSA reported a steep decline in rough diamond sales during the month of October, falling 28% year-over-year and 29% from September, but has still recorded 6% growth during the first ten months of the year. In October, ALROSA Group sold $243 million worth of rough diamonds compared with $326 million in October 2017, and $331 million last month. “In October, demand for small-size inexpensive rough diamonds continued to remain weak," says ALROSA Deputy CEO Yury Okoemov.

Russian diamond mining giant ALROSA experienced a slight downtick in revenue and profit during the third quarter as compared with Q2, as significantly weaker sales volumes were offset by higher average prices and an improved sales mix. The miner has, however seen strong growth for the first nine months of the year, and last week commenced commercial diamond production at its newest mine, the Verkhne-Munskoye Diamond Field in Yakutia.

Several media reports from Israel indicate that Israeli law enforcement officials say they want to question Lev Leviev, the business baron whose companies allegedly are at the center of a vast diamond-smuggling ring that has operated for years, according to Israeli daily Haaretz. Six suspects were arrested Monday as part of a probe into suspected diamod smuggling by Israeli tycoon Lev Leviev.

Russian diamond mining giant ALROSA's September sales continued the miner's positive trend in 2018 with an 8% increase in rough diamond sales compared to September 2017, which was admittedly a low comparison base. ALROSA sold $331.6 million worth of rough diamonds compared to $305.8 million a year ago, as the larger sized stones sold well while lower qualities and sizes set forth their downturn.

Russian diamond mining company ALROSA extracted 28.59-carat rough yellow diamond at its Ebelyakhplacer deposit in July. The diamond is of deep greenish-yellow hue, and following the company's assessment, the color of the stone is defined as the rare Fancy Intense Yellow. It is currently the largest yellow rough diamond mined at ALROSA's deposits since the beginning of 2018. JSC AlmazyAnabara, a subsidiary of ALROSA, unearthed the stone.

Russia's ALROSA has sold 2,234 carats worth of special size rough diamonds (larger than 10.8 carats) at an auction in Hong Kong, earning $10.7 million in sales revenue at an average price of $4,790 per carat. The 2,234 carats derived from 136 gem-quality diamonds, including 25 fancy yellow stones weighing 440 carats in total. 54 companies from Hong Kong, mainland China, Belgium, Israel and India took part in the auction.

ALROSA, the world's largest diamond mining company, has sold 'special size' rough diamonds (larger than 10.8 carats) at auction in Vladivostok, with overall revenue amounting to $12.6 million. At its latest sale of large stones, the company sold 108 gem-quality lots with total weight of 2,003 carats. 76 companies from Russia, mainland China, Hong Kong, the US, Israel, Belgium, India and UAE took part in the auction.

Russian diamond mining company Arkhangelskgeoldobycha (the licence holder for the Grib diamond pipe in the Arkhangelsk Region), which recently changed its name to AGD Diamonds, has consolidated a 100% stake in Grib Diamonds. Grib Diamonds is the Antwerp diamond trading company responsible for marketing rough diamonds produced at the Vladimir Grib Diamond Field through auctions held on its web-based platform. The move is intended to establish a fully-fledged diamond mining company, including exploration, production and sales.

PJSC Severalmaz, a subsidiary of ALROSA Group, has planted over 80,000 pine tree saplings at the Soyansky State Bio-Reserve as part of their effort to revegetate 40.6 hectares of forest in the Arkhangelsk Oblast region in northwestern Russia. This revegetation effort was an obligatory follow-up after processing the sand and gravel extracted from the site that had been leased to Severalmaz by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Timber Complex of the Arkhangelsk Oblast.

Russian diamond mining giant ALROSA said its first half net profit rose by 19 percent year on year to $865 million (RUB 58.3 billion) as higher average prices for gem-quality stones helped offset a drop in the volume of sales. Revenue increased by 8% to $2.5 billion (RUB 168 bn) on the back of higher average prices and a better sales mix, despite the 8% drop in sales by volume, with sales of gem-quality diamonds shrinking by 14%. ALROSA's EBITDA grew by 22% to $1.3 billion (RUB 89.1 bn), supported by higher top line and lower production costs.

Russian diamond mining giant ALROSA has tested a new payment mechanism enabling foreign clients to purchase rough stones using Russian currency. As an experiment, transactions were conducted with clients from China and India, and if necessary, the company is prepared to use this payment scheme in rubles in the future.

ALROSA has announced that mining operations on the new diamond deposit Zarya are entering their final stage, having removing 10 million cubic meters of overburden over the last two years, and the company expects diamond mining will start in 2019. The deposit is estimated to contain total diamond resources of 3.5 million carats worth more than USD 1 billion. Its development will allow the miner to replace the declining reserves of Komsomolskaya pipe, where mining operations are nearing their completion.

Russian diamond mining giant ALROSA ramped up the volume of processed ore from their alluvial diamond operations, resulting in a 15% increase in overall production compared to the prior quarter while remaining 18% off the pace of production volume during the same quarter a year ago. The miner produced 8.5 m carats during the last three months compared to 7.4 million carats in Q1.

In June 2018, Russian mining giant ALROSA Group sold $390.3 million worth of rough and polished diamonds. The miner's earnings from rough diamond accounted for $383.7 million of total sales, an 8% increase over the $354.4 million sold in June 2017. The company also sold $6.6 million worth of polished diamonds, four million less than in the same month last year. During the first half of 2018, ALROSA sold $2.639 billion worth of rough diamonds, also an 8% rise over the first half in 2017.

Following successful auctions of special size rough diamonds (weighing over 10.8 carats) in Vladivostok, New York, Israel and Dubai, Russian miner ALROSA earned total sales revenue of $10.4 million at their latest auction in Hong Kong, which is more than 1.5 times higher than the starting price. In total, 100 gem-quality lots with a total weight of 1,550 carats were sold. The companies from the largest diamond trading centers, including Hong Kong, Belgium, Israel, India, the UAE and Russia, attended the auction. 28 firms were recognized as winners for different lots.

ALROSA, the world's largest diamond mining company, is organizing a contest for diamond and football fans alike: create a 'football' name for large rough diamond (76.53 carats), and win a ticket to the final game of the FIFA World Cup 2018™. The centerpiece stone of this contest will also constitute the core of a 'football' collection of special size rough diamonds to be auctioned in Moscow. Fans may submit their ideas to www.diamondsofrussia.ru. The winner will also receive a certificate that the stone is named after his or her idea.

The Kimberley Process Intersessional being held in Antwerp got into full swing this morning, and while the proceedings were calm and orderly - not always a given when the 54 participants (representing 81 countries) get together for their annual meetings - there were some noteworthy highlights.

In the context of the KP Intersessional taking place this week, which has brought the diamond world to Antwerp, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, represented by the Deputy Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation Aleksey Vladimirovich Moiseev, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with HRD Antwerp for the establishment of an HRD Antwerp diamond grading lab in Moscow.

Summing up the main results of its ecological programs and events for 2017, Russia's ALROSA, the largest diamond company in the world, said it allocated $75 million (RUB 4.4 billion) for environmental programs last year alone. These funds allowed the miner to implement projects of great importance to ALROSA and the regions and to significantly increase monitoring over the state of the environment. In 2018 financing for environmental activities will increase up to approximately US$85 million (RUB 5.3 billion).

Russian diamond mining giant ALROSA will hold the auctions for the sale of special size rough diamonds (+10.8 carats) in Hong Kong and Vladivostok this June. The auction in Hong Kong will take place on June 13-27, where the company will auction 105 gem-quality lots with total weight of 1,620 carats. The second auction will be held on June 18-29 in Vladivostok, where company plans to auction 130 gem-quality lots with total weight 2,149 carats.